For real. I know I'm biased as someone with clients in SNF but the whole point of it is testing out and playing great upcoming games and it feels like we've completely gotten away from that. How are good games and hidden gems supposed to shine in that environment?
There are all those charts and things that devs then have to figure out, or game the system, which surely can't be good for players? You want to know that it's there because it's quality gamemaking not because of anything else
Most chart placements now are simply determined by external traffic prior to the event, through creators and continuous ads. The biggest bank balance wins. Feels unfair on indie devs.
I guess Steam is just focused on what's most likely to convert in significant numbers. Discoverability has largely been sacrificed in favour of sales, which is disappointing because they aren't mutually exclusive!
I’m biased as I have clients in NF, but one of the biggest issues is the misuse of it.
There’s a lot of early alphas in there that should hold back until they have more polish. NF shouldn’t be to advertise a kickstarter or to try and get publisher attention, that always ends with disappointment.
As long as there isnt an event specifically for this, I think thats a legit use of NF, it is so hard to get any support/visibility/traction. However, a bit short sighted as they wont be able to submit a demo of their full game for a future NF.
I don't think there's a solution that doesn't create more work for Valve, but I've noticed a significant rise in dev frustration over the past few Next Fests that wasn't there previously and I don't think it'll naturally solve itself.
I was having a similar conversation and imho the problem with SNF right now is having to sift through the garbage - especially since the rec algorithm seems to be pushing everything to the top.
It quickly went from "here's a week of great games" to "don't bother - just check it towards the end".
I think quite the opposite - when even the worst games tend to have great key art - how do you even find a gem amongst the thousands of demos/games released, when every one potentially looks enticing?
Valve's policy changed in 2017 to allow anyone to publish a game to Steam for $100, with very few restrictions. Up until that point they were using a voting system called Steam Greenlight.
2013: 566 new games on Steam
2015: 2552
2017: 6152
2024: 15,339
Comments
There’s a lot of early alphas in there that should hold back until they have more polish. NF shouldn’t be to advertise a kickstarter or to try and get publisher attention, that always ends with disappointment.
I always see NF as a force multiplier to do just before launch, and agree it’s short-sighted when they’ll miss out later on.
Also, if there is so much garbage, doesn't it make it easier to stand out as well?
It quickly went from "here's a week of great games" to "don't bother - just check it towards the end".
2013: 566 new games on Steam
2015: 2552
2017: 6152
2024: 15,339
I used to do a mixture of my own searching, and go off of the emails I received, to pick the ones I cover.
Now, I can hardly do that because there's so many demos and so many emails.